“There are millions of people of good faith, vision, wisdom, compassion and courage in Palestine and Israel. We will put all of our energy into building peace and prosperity for the children of Israel and Palestine. We will work side by side and the welfare of each will be the greatest desire of the other. The success of each of us will be measured by the success of the other. All of our children will thrive. The entire desert will bloom. We will watch each others’ backs and help and support each other. We will trust. We will be stronger together than we ever were separately. We will live lives of safety, freedom, comfort, work, and spirituality.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat talks with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin after they were awarded the Nobel Peace Prizes on December 10, 1994 in Oslo, Norway. (Photo: Yaakov Saar/GPO) Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing extremist Israeli in 1995.

“All countries of the earth will line up to contribute money, resources, and expertise. Our resources will be used to benefit each other. We will cooperate and we will raise each other up. We are strong in our faiths, strong enough to live together in peace as partners. We will find ways to honor all of our traditions. The result will be an example to the world.

“We will stop the cycle of revenge and retribution that has created untold suffering. To begin, we will acknowledge the most basic cause of the conflict. It is the result of the colonialists who thought they could steal land from the people who lived on it, use it for their own benefit, and dispose of it as they saw fit. But we will forgive them. Those countries will be first in line to support us, because they also have people of good faith, honesty, wisdom, and responsibility. They have learned as we have learned.

“Some will die. Many have already died. It is a choice, to die for peace and the future, or for hatred and the past.

“It will be one of the greatest things the world has ever seen.”

Note (Since cross-cultural communication can be difficult, I have tried to say the same thing again, but perhaps less poetically):

I am only a philosopher who thinks he can see a way forward out of the violence that has existed for 60 years. If it is a good idea then others, including those with the ability to implement it, will see it also. The idea is that the countries who can, including Israel (in her own interest) and the former colonial powers (out of a sense of responsibility), should invest heavily in Palestine, creating jobs, housing, medical care, education, and a future for the children. As Palestine prospers the economies of Israel and Palestine will become more interdependent and violence will become less acceptable. This is not an original idea–it was what led to the formation of the European Union after WWII. Now, despite the history of violence in Europe, including hundreds of years of insane slaughter, endless religious wars, and two world wars in 20 years, the increased prosperity and interdependence of European nations has made another war between France and Germany unthinkable.

Come to think of it, the multinational corporations could also contribute heavily. So, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, Hyundai, Samsung, Sony, what about it? Open a factory in Palestine. Make peace by making money.

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